Separator



Marh 2o,- 192s.

W. M. LITTLE ET AL SEPARATOR Filed oct. s. 192s 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 20, 1928. 1,663,411

w. M. LrrTLE E1' Al.

tforney BJIQIW March 20, 1928. l 1,663,411

' w M. LITTLE E1' AL;

snmuwon Filed out. 9,1926 3 sheets-sheet 3 Uf l. LSermm Y By @man v46%.

A'itorney Patented Mar. y

i-UNITED STATES 'PATENT oF'I-l-ca.

vWILLIAM n. LITTLE AND Jnssxn L. SHERMAN, or NonrnLET, ARKANSAS.

SEPABATOR.

1 Application` meaocrober 9, 192e. serial No.v 140,500.

With the above and numerous other ob- -jects in view as will appear as the 'description proceeds, the invention resides in certam novel' features of constructlon, and' 1n the combinatlon and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully describedl and claimed.

, '.In the drawings:

.Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section taken through the separator embodying the features of our invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail vertical Sectherethrough as at 29 for receiving the guide tion of one end thereof,Y

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section taken substantially on the line 3f3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a detailvertical section taken.

substantially on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale,

Fig. 5 isV an enlarged detail section taken substantially on the line 5--5 of Fi 2. Referring to the drawings in dgetail, it will be seen that the numeral 5 denotes an elongated cylindrical casing which merges at one end into a cone-shaped head 6 and atits other end hasatti'readed thereon a concavo-convex. head 7. "A crude oil pipe is denoted by the numeral. 8 and is connected by a tting 9 to an L-shaped pipe 10 which terminates with one branch coaxially alined with the drum and the cone-shaped head 6' and pointing towards the apex of the head portion of the 'casln closed. A drum 16 epends from-the mtermediate portion of the casing 5 andghas its 6 so that the oilwill be broken up to some extent by impact with the interior surface of the head 6. A plurality` of vertical tubes' 11 rise from the drum 5 and areiconnected by horiz'ontal tubes 1 2. The vertical tubes 11 have arranged therein a plurality of baffie lates 13. Baie plates 14 are' arranged at t e junctures of therear ends of the horizontal tubes 12 with the vertical tubes 11 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

A drum 15 depends from the forward 5y and has its bottom sed. -A drum 17 depends from bottom the rear portion of the casing 5 and has its bottom closed. All three ofthe drums, 15,` 16 and 17 are provided with valved outlets shown at 18, 19 and 20 respectively. The bottom portion of the drum l5 is connected with the bottom portion of the drum 16 by a pipe 21. The bottom portion of the drum 16 is connected with the bottom portion of the drum 1,7 by a pipe 22. A partition 23 is disposedin the` casing 5 immediately above the forward portion of the drum 16 as is clearly shown in Fig. 1. A drum 24 rises from the top of the casing 5 and is of substantially the same diameter as the drum 16 and is coaxially alined therewith. A concavo-convex head 25 is threaded on the upper end vof the drum24. A bar 26 extends diametrically across the interior of thedrum 24 and has a vertical guide rod 27 depending therefrom and engaged centrally on the bottom of the drum 16. A hollow cylindrical iioat 28 has a tube extending axially rod 27. Tubes 30 rise from the hollow drum 28 and move in inverted cup-shaped members 31 mounted on the bar 26. Pins 32 project radially from opposite sidesof the drum 28 and pierce the slotted extremities 33 of a yoke 34 formed integrally on the ends of a ealn 35. The other end of this'beam 35 merges into a pawl 36. A post 37 extends vertically in the rear portion of the casing 5 and the .lower end thereof is bifurcated as at 38 and hasa rearwardly spaced stop leg 39. The pawl 36 is adapted to move nbetween the bifurcations 38 and stop leg 39. A fulcrum block 40 has a trapezoidal-shaped tenon 41 which is slidably mounted in a similarly-shaped mortise 42 in the upper' beveled inion i45 at its rear end with a beveled pinion 46 on the upper end of a' shaft 47 journaled throughv the bottom of the casing as at 48. The exteriorA or bottom end of the shaft 47 has an operatlngwheel 49 there on. It will be seen that the fulcrum vblock -mav be moved longitudinally of the casing j oil outlet pipe 51 extends through the side of the drum 17 and upwardly therein and terminates in a valve seat for receivingvalve 52 having a stem 53. A tubular connecting member 54C receives the upper end of the valve Stem 53 which is connected thereto by a wrist pin 55. A stem 56 extends into the upper end ofthe tubular connecting member 54 and is connected thereto by a wristA pin 57. A closed drum 58 rises from the cylindrical casing 5 and has diametrically opposed openings 59. Slidably mounted in the dome or drum- 58 is a piston valve 60 connected with the stem 56. Another stem 61 extends upwardly from the piston valve 60 through the top thereof and is ypivoted as at 62 to a rod 63 pivoted as at 64 at one end to an intermediate portion' of one of the I Vertical tubes 11. A weight 65 is slidable on this rod 63 so as to normally maintain the piston valve closed.

It is thought that the device has been ldescribed in sufficient detail to thoroughly understand the operation thereof. As is well known, the oil as it comes from the well includes a certain amount of gas and water and as this mixture enters through the pipe 10 it is broken up to some extent by impact against the conical head 6. As this mixture collects in the casing and passes from'one drum to the other through the connections l 21 and 22, it will be'seen that the water will settle at the bottom, the oil rising to the top while the gas will escape through the tubes 11 and 12, the baffles tending to separate any `oil' which may be suspended in the'gas so that the samewill trickle down into the gas. As the level of the oil rises, it will be seen that the float 28 will be caused to rise. This will happen depending on the position of the weight 65 as is apparent. When the ioat 28 rises it swings the beam 35 thereby lifting upwardly on the stem 56 and `its valve 52 'so that the oil will flow ofi' through the pipe 51. From time to time the water may be drained oil' through the valve drains 18, 19, and 20. Should the gas in ther casing become excessive at any time, it will be seen that it will raise the piston valve 60 so as to allow thegas to lescape through the openings 59 and also allowfthe oil to flow out through the pipe 51 thereby increasing the as capacity of the casing 5 so as to reduce t e pressure. The float 28 is controlled inv 1,ees,411

lits operation by the shifting of the fulcrum block 40 as previously indicated.

It is thought that the construction, 'operation, and advanta es of this invention will now be clearly un erstood by those skilled in this art without a more detailed description thereof. It will be readily apparent that we have provided an elicientand substantial device of the character described and while this specitication'manifests in detail the preferred construction of the invention, we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the specific details of construction and arrangement of parts as herein described and illustrated, as it is manifest that variations and modifications may be `resorted lto in the features of construction and arrangement of parts, in the adaptation of the device to various conditions of use without departing from thel spirit and scope of the invention. We therefore reserve theright to all such variations claimed. l i.

From the foregoing, it is thou ht that the construction of our invention wi l be clearly understood, and, therefore, .a more extended explanation has been omitted. v Y

Having `thus described our invention, what we claim as new is A device of the class\described, including, in'combination, an elo l ated horizontal casing, an oil pipe leadg rinto the casing, water outlet means ass ciated with the casing, gas outlet means associated with the casing, an oil outlet pipe leading 'into the casing and terminating in a valve seat, a valve associated with the seat, a stem rising from float, with one end of the beam, a fulcrum block for the beam, and means for adjusting the fulcrum block. Y

In testimony whereof we aix our signatures.

' WILLIAM `M. LITTLE. JESSIE L. SHERMAN. 

